Mgr, People Consultant

Job Summary

We are recharging how HR delivers impact at NetApp.

As the Senior Manager, People Consultant, you will lead the People Consultant team in APAC and directly manage complex employee relations, performance management, and workplace matters. You will be accountable for regional service delivery, team capability, workload management, and case quality while contributing to the continued development of the global People Consultant operating model.

You will strengthen manager capability and ensure employee matters are addressed with sound judgment, appropriate speed, and clear accountability. You will use case trends, workload data, and local insights to improve team effectiveness, identify emerging risks, and inform scalable improvements to the global People Consultant model.

About the People Consultant Team

The People Consultant team is chartered to empower and enable people managers through targeted coaching, proactively resolve employee relations risks, and seamlessly execute critical HR programs to foster a high-performing, compliant, and supportive workplace. Responsibilities include:

Elevate manager decision quality through expert coaching, performance management guidance, and real-time advisory on complex employee situations

Translate case insights into scalable solutions, working with the HR Leadership team to identify systemic gaps and drive improvements in policies, tools, training, and HR programs

Act as a critical feedback loop for the business, surfacing trends and insights that inform Talent, HR, and business strategy

Job Responsibilities

Lead the APAC People Consultant team and establish clear priorities, operating rhythms, workload allocation, quality standards, and development plans.

Lead and develop People Consultants through regular case reviews, feedback, and development planning, strengthening judgment, documentation quality, manager guidance, escalation decisions, and effective resolution.

Directly manage the most complex or sensitive employee relations, performance management, workplace conflict, and investigation follow-up matters.

Provide expert consultation to managers on performance concerns, documented coaching, performance improvement plans, workplace expectations, conflict resolution, and difficult employee conversations.

Support early resolution of employee and workplace concerns that do not require a formal investigation, including mediation, relationship issues, communication concerns, and recurring manager or team friction.

Partner with Employment Legal and Investigations on appropriate triage, investigation close-out, corrective action, and manager follow-through, while limiting escalations to matters that require their authority or expertise.

Maintain clear operating boundaries and handoffs across People Consultants, HR Operations, HR Business Partners, Legal, Investigations, and specialist teams.

Monitor case demand, complexity, capacity, cycle time, escalation patterns, and recurring themes to balance workload across the team, adjust assignments and priorities, identify performance or capability gaps, and ensure timely, consistent delivery.

Use case insights to identify emerging risks, capability gaps, and opportunities for manager enablement, policy or process improvements, tools, training, and broader HR solutions.

Build strong relationships with business leaders and HR partners while contributing to a consistent global People Consultant operating model.

Support the continued development of the People Consultant function, including designing workflows, service standards, measures of success, and scalable ways of working.

Job Requirement

8 or more years of relevant HR experience, including significant experience in employee relations, performance management, HR business partnership, or a comparable people advisory role.

People Leadership: 4 or more years of people management responsibility, with demonstrated experience developing professionals, managing performance, allocating work, and leading teams responsible for moderately complex, sensitive, and judgment-based matters.

India Expertise: Experience supporting a complex organization in India, with strong knowledge of local employment practices, cultural considerations, and manager needs.

Cross-Functional Partnership: Experience partnering effectively with Employment Legal, Investigations, HR Operations, HR Business Partners, and business leaders.

Other Qualifications

Leadership and Team Development: Ability to establish priorities, operating objectives, work plans, and quality standards while developing talent and creating accountability for results.

Judgment and Decision Making: Sound judgment in situations where facts may be incomplete, problems are not clearly defined, or multiple risks and stakeholder interests must be balanced.

Employee Relations Expertise: Deep understanding of employee relations, corrective performance management, workplace conflict, manager coaching, and investigation follow-up.

Legal and Compliance Knowledge: Ability to interpret policies and practices consistently while accounting for local legal, regulatory, and cultural requirements.

Business Acumen: Ability to connect people decisions to team effectiveness, employee experience, risk, and business outcomes.

Stakeholder Management: Ability to influence stakeholders in sensitive and complex situations, build trusted relationships, and communicate clear recommendations, risks, and trade-offs.

Operating Model Clarity: Ability to distinguish among manager-owned decisions, People Consultant advisory work, HRBP strategic partnership, HR Operations execution, and matters requiring Legal or Investigations involvement.

Analytical and Operational Discipline: Ability to use case data, workload patterns, and recurring themes to improve service delivery, identify root causes, and inform scalable solutions.